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Bishop joins Hunger For Justice weekend

A bishop will join politicians and charity leaders for a panel debate on climate change and its effects on the world’s poorest people this weekend.

David Wilbourne, the Assistant Bishop of Llandaff, will take part in the public debate at St Michael’s College, Llandaff, at 1-2.30-pm on Saturday (October 18) to mark Christian Aid’s Hunger For Justice weekend.

He will be joined on the panel by Aled Pickard of Christian Aid Wales, local MPs Jenny Willott and Kevin Brennan, and South Wales Central AMs Leanne Wood and Andrew RT Davies. They will speak about the effects of climate change in some of the world’s poorest countries and how people can get involved and make a difference.

The debate has been organized by Alun Evans, a student at St Michael’s College. He says, “I’m organising this event simply because I’m concerned about the millions of people worldwide who are suffering because of climate change. All of us have a part to play. Our politicians from Wales in Westminster and Cardiff have a vital role in ensuring that the structural causes of climate change are addressed. I would like to see our political leaders making firm commitments to do everything that they can to tackle climate change.”

Over the weekend, hundreds of churches nationwide will be urging their local politicians to ensure that their party includes strong climate change action in their General Election manifestos and praying for people living with the effects of climate change around the world. Churches across Wales are also calling on the National Assembly for Wales to ensure its upcoming Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Bill drives action for Wales to meet its carbon emissions targets.

This action comes following the largest mobilisation on climate change in history when 675,000 people took the streets around the world ahead of the UN’s New York-based Climate Summit in September, and ahead of the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru in December.

The world’s poorest people – those communities who have done the least to cause climate change – bear the brunt of its impact. Increasingly erratic weather is causing more storms and droughts, ruining harvests across the globe and destroying the gains made by poor communities as they try to work their way out of poverty.

Mari McNeill from Christian Aid says, “The Hunger for Justice weekend gives our supporters and churches the chance to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with people around the world, and encourages us all to take steps towards a safer, cleaner future.”

For more information, please visit www.christianaid.org.uk/hungerforjustice or contact: